Steve Scalise: ‘I was a strong supporter of the second amendment before the shooting, and frankly, as ardent as ever after the shooting in part because I was saved by people who had guns.’
Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Steve Scalise feared he would never return to his job as House majority whip, after he was shot and gravely wounded at baseball practice nearly a year ago. On Tuesday, the five-term Republican from Louisiana returned to the Capitol. He was welcomed with a standing ovation – from both parties.

“It was one of the very few moments in my life, from the birth of my kids and marriage … that [I] will always remember,” Scalise said. “There were days where I [wasn’t] sure I was going to be able to do that – to be able to walk back on to the House floor on my own, with my crutches.”

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In an interview with journalists from Politico, Scalise reflected on the shooting and his views on the second amendment.

“Those were some dark days,” he said. “You could take a bear down with the bullet I was hit with. When I looked at the caliber bullet, I was amazed I was still alive. Frankly, there are a lot of miracles that happened along the way.”

Scalise said the experience reinforced his support for gun rights. “I was a strong supporter of the second amendment before the shooting,” he said, “and frankly, as ardent as ever after the shooting in part because I was saved by people who had guns.

“They saved my life. But they also saved the lives of every other member. There were over a dozen members of Congress and staffers who would have been executed. That was the intention of the shooter.”

There was no “magic bill” that would stop shootings, he said, criticizing Democrats for rushing to pass gun control measures.

In the days after the shooting, Scalise said, he received calls from leaders including Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. On several occasions, Scalise said, he answered calls from “weird numbers” and was connected to the president. Netanyahu, he said, spoke about his brother, who was killed during a raid to rescue hostages at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Bono also called to offer good wishes to Scalise, who is a U2 fan, and stopped by the congressman’s office to take photos with members of staff.

Scalise batted away speculation about his political ambitions, repeating that he would not challenge the majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to succeed Paul Ryan as House speaker. He firmly ruled out running for governor in Louisiana.

On issues from North Korea to this year’s midterms, Scalise largely stuck to the Republican script.

Asked if Republicans’ uncompromising position on gun laws could cost them a generation of voters, Scalise said young people benefited the most from the GOP tax plan and that the priority of most Americans was the economy.

He also expressed confidence that an effort to force a series of votes on immigration, led by moderate Republicans, would not work. The congressman, who is working with GOP leadership to block the effort, said the party was making a “lot of headway” on a compromise plan it believes could pass the House.

It would be “devastating”, he said, if Republicans helped pass an immigration bill that protected young undocumented migrants known as Dreamers without concurrently tightening border security.

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Scalise mostly praised the president, insisting Trump is more focused on the Republican agenda than his Twitter feed might suggest. On North Korea, Scalise said he believed Trump would bring any agreement to Congress for approval, which he faulted former president Barack Obama for failing to do regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

Despite a promising political landscape for Democrats, Scalise said he was optimistic about Republican chances of keeping control of the House.

“I think we will keep the majority,” he said. “It’s for a lot of reasons, but the economy is the biggest.”